“I have the deep pain to announce the death, this Saturday, May 7, 2022, of the President of the National Assembly, my younger brother, Amadou Soumahoro“, says the text.
“I pay tribute to a great statesman, whose commitment and political career have marked our country. Côte d’Ivoire is losing a brave son, a man of conviction and duty. I lose a faithful companion, a loyal and devoted friend“, continues the head of state.
My dear compatriots,
I have the deep pain to announce the death, this Saturday, May 7, 2022, of the President of the National Assembly, my younger brother, Amadou Soumahoro. I pay tribute to a great statesman, whose commitment and political career have marked our country. pic.twitter.com/3Cb1vqDJy9– Alassane Ouattara (@AOuattara_PRCI) May 7, 2022
President of the Assembly since March 2019, he has made long stays abroad in recent months for medical reasons.
A national mourning was decreed on May 9 by Alassane Ouattara, from Wednesday May 11 to Friday May 13, “due to the death of the President of the National Assembly Amadou Soumahoro“.
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Faithful to President Alassane Ouattara
Amadou Soumahoro was a figure in Ivorian politics and a loyal supporter of President Alassane Ouattara. He is one of the founding members of the Rassemblement des Républicains (RDR), the historic party of Mr. Ouattara, in 1994. Mayor of the city of Séguéla from 1996 to 2013, he had contributed to the establishment of the party in the north from the country.
This graduate of the Institute of International Economic Relations in Paris (1979), with a specialty in international trade, had been Minister several times, for Foreign Trade in 2002 then for Trade between 2003 and 2005 in a unity government under the presidency by Laurent Gbagbo.
After the election of Alassane Ouattara, he held the position of Special Advisor to the President of the Republic in charge of political affairs, from 2011 to 2017.
Between 2018 and 2019, Amadou Soumahoro was promoted to minister to the head of state, still in charge of political affairs.
He had succeeded in March 2019 to the perch of the Assembly to the former leader of the rebellion Guillaume Soro, who, in conflict with President Ouattara, had been forced to resign.
An absence of several months
During his absence in recent months, he was replaced by one of the vice-presidents of the Assembly, Adama Bictogo, a member of the Rassemblement des Houphouëtistes pour la Paix (RHDP), the ruling party.
Côte d’Ivoire has been bereaved several times by the disappearances of political leaders in recent years.
In July 2020, Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly died from heart problems. His successor, Hamed Bakayoko died in March 2021 of overwhelming cancer.
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